34th District

No Urgency?!

More than 50 days have passed without a state budget. Republicans have presented multiple fully-vetted and balanced budget plans since April, but they have been ignored by Democrat legislative leaders. Now Gov. Malloy has doubled down, spreading financial pain across the state by his misguided plan to withhold millions of tax dollars from smaller towns while giving more tax dollars to larger urban areas. Our communities are under significant threat and the cuts he would like to propose are staggering. In the 34th district: Colchester over $9 million, East Hampton over $6 million and East Haddam over $3 million.

Gov. Malloy and his supporters have chosen to punish small towns when he redistributes their tax dollars. The only way to stop his executive order is through legislative action. But under one-party rule, my Democrat friends in the legislature have stalled and offered no other alternative. Incredibly, after nearly eight months in session, the political party in charge has not publicly shared their budget! NOTHING for the last two months! After they rushed to vote on a guaranteed union package, Connecticut taxpayers and those who rely on services have been left in limbo.

The Speaker of the House and President of the Senate recently confirmed that their yet-to-be-revealed budget solution will include tax increases. Now, the same legislators who voted to extend union contract agreements for 10 years are feigning surprise at proposed tax increases. Spare me.

Our residents are feeling the effects of their lack of leadership every day. Students, senior citizens, our Veterans, teachers, business owners and local government officials…the list is endless. Meanwhile, there is no urgency to call us into special session. Democrats announced to expect a vote on a state budget the week of September 11th.